1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to signal sampling systems such as may be utilized in a radar system or in a passive reception system and particularly to an arrangement that provides sampling of a wideband signal at a slow rate so as to simplify the sampling and conversion circuits.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In systems such as radar systems receiving a signal to be sampled within an enable gate such as a relatively wide range gate it is often necessary to sample the range gated pulse at closely spaced intervals in order to provide range information and other characteristics of the received signal. When the signal being sampled is a wideband signal it has been found that the high rate of sampling required to detect the signal within the range gate is often substantially greater than the converting circuit such as the A to D converter can handle without either utilizing a substantially complex and expensive A to D converter or utilizing a multiplexing arrangement with a plurality of A to D converters. As is well known in the art, A to D converters because of the settling time of the switches and delay in the digitizing circuits require relatively complex and expensive circuits in order to operate at high speeds. It would be of substantial advantage to the radar art and other applicable fields if sampling of wideband time gated signals could be performed at a slow rate to allow utilization of inexpensive sample output devices.